


Fear of the Unknown

by Hylophobic



Series: The Space Cowboy Saga [2]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Betaed, Horror, M/M, Raga - Freeform, Thank the sleep paralysis demons, The Twins - Freeform, and concerned, everyone is confused, how did we get here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:55:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23318704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hylophobic/pseuds/Hylophobic
Summary: Cara reaches out to some old friends in hopes of finding answers about the child's weird powers.What she finds instead is much weirder and horrifying... And it also has their own band of Mandalorians it's protecting.This is going to get interesting.
Relationships: Corin the Stormtrooper (Rescue and Regret)/The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Paz Vizla/Original Male Character(s)
Series: The Space Cowboy Saga [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1681876
Comments: 9
Kudos: 42





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> Thank the sleep paralysis demons for this one folks...
> 
> Shout-out to WizardMoonwhisper, who apparently has some concerns.
> 
> It's fine though. I can sleep when I'm dead. 😃

“ The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”- H.P. Lovecraft

Cara still feels guilty over turning Corin in to Nader, even after he's healed and safely within the covert. Maybe that's why she reaches out to a few close friends that are still in the rebellion. She knows Din is still looking for information to help him understand the kid's abilities. He isn't interested in handing him off to these  _ Jetii _ people, but having any kind of insight on what to expect would probably be helpful.

So, Cara sends out some feelers. She doesn't disclose anything vital, anything that could be traced back to the kid and the covert. She would be damned if she betrayed her friend's trust like that. Or betrayed it again, at least.

The first few contacts are dead ends. Just a few war buddies telling stories about fabled warriors that could wield magic or move things with their minds. It's nothing solid, though. Nothing catches her attention until she hears from Reck.

Reck is a human pilot she'd serviced with several years back. A younger, impulsive soldier looking for adventure and to bring down the evil Empire. She never had to wonder where he got his name from. As reckless as the guy was, though, he was never one to believe in the rumors of a magical group of sorcerers brandishing swords in battle. She hasn't heard from the guy in ages so it's a complete surprise when he reaches out to her with an interesting story.

Every other tale she's heard from her contacts had been myths they themselves had heard from someone who had heard it from someone else. Reck, though, tells her he met something a year ago that he couldn't explain. What catches her attention is how he identifies it as 'something', not 'someone'. He doesn't have a name, just a com link that he readily hands over without even being asked. After he gives it over, the man blinks up in a daze to meet her eyes. He tells her he thinks it  _ wanted _ him to give her the com link, that it had already known this was going to happen. When she excuses herself from the cantina a short while, later Reck is still staring off into the distance, eyes unfocused.

The whole meeting leaves Cara's skin crawling. She takes measures to ensure she isn't being followed back to the covert, tripling her travel time just to make sure she has thrown off any would-be hunters.

Din is predictably wary of the whole thing, eyeing the com link in her hand like it's a live grenade. He doesn't refuse the offer though, not once he turns to glance at the kid and sees the little green terror happily levitating the metal ball he's so fond of.

The com link stays with Cara for several days as Din weighs his options. Finally, he seems to come to a decision and the shock trooper finds herself in one of the larger rooms off the main hall of the covert. Paz, Jon, Raga, and the twins are here along with Corin, who's doing his best to distract the child with some kind of game.

The bounty hunter turns the link over and over in his hands, hesitating before activating the small device with a press of a button. Cara holds her breath as the thing beeps softly, a small blinking red light on the side signifying that it is attempting to connect to its sister device. It takes a while before someone answers and she isn't sure what she had expected to hear on the other side of that link, but it isn't the growled-out string of Mando'a that filters through the room in a male's voice.

Every single Mandalorian freezes and, out of the corner of her eye, she sees Corin's head snap up towards the group.

The voice on the other end of the link hums when no one speaks, taking on a hint of amusement.

"Do I need to switch over to Basic, then?"

Din sounds surprised when he responds. " _ Gar cuyir Mando _ ?"

" _ Bal'ban _ ."

Din falters at that, turning to share a look with Paz and Raga.

"So, the pilot delivered the com to the right person, I take it," the unknown Mandalorian shifts back to speaking in Basic then, there's a sigh and it sounds like the man turns away from the device because the next words are further away. "Took long enough."

"Who- who are you," Din asks warily.

"Sovyn Kyrrol," the man answers happily, but doesn't expand on that bit of information.

"Are you  _ Jetii _ ?"

The question comes from Paz, who has moved closer to Din's shoulder, hovering there with uncertainty.

There's a snort, followed shortly by a very firm 'no'.

"Then why did Reck give me your com-," Cara asks, leaning forward to eye the device curiously.

"Who?"

"The pilot," she clarifies, stomach twisting at the thought this unknown person might have used her own stupidity to endanger her friends.

The man hums out an 'ah', then there's a sound from the device, like the gentle creaking of tree branches.  _ Was he outside? _

" _ Ner riduur _ ," is the easy reply, there are other noises filtering in now from the other end of the com making it difficult to catch the next words. "They wish to meet your  _ ad'ika _ ."

Din bristles and Paz snarls from where he's standing next to the smaller man.

A hissing comes over the link, loud and sharp enough to cause everyone in the room to jump, the noise tapering off into a series of clicks a short moment later. The voice from before lets out a put-upon sigh.

"Fine," the man mumbles over the com, but it doesn’t sound like he's talking to anyone in the room. "Ner riduur has suggested that, maybe, my reluctance to share vital information could be causing you- undue stress."

A softer hiss resonates from the device in her friend's hand.

" _ Beyora _ ," the voice calls out and Din startles at the term directed to him. "I have an aliit to protect, as I'm sure you understand. I am transmitting a nav-point to this link. Follow it or don't, as long as no harm comes to my clan, I don't really care. They would like to meet if you'll allow it, though."

The device goes dead after that and Din stares down at the com until a ping emits from it. The noise indicating that the aforementioned nav-point had, indeed, been received.

*~~*~~*~~*

The whole thing leaves the Mandalorians on edge and Corin adamantly refuses to allow the child out of his line of sight for any length of time. Jon sticks close to the kid too, which means the heavy gunner can be found spending most of his time hovering over his cyare and the small family.

The debacle leaves Cara feeling even worse than she had before. She glares down at the small com link in her hands, Din had given it back to her like the damn thing might combust if he held onto it any longer. She can’t really blame him, though. The conversation plays over and over in her mind on a loop, her muscles tense like she’s expecting an ambush around every corner. Finally, she can’t stand the nervous glances that Corin throws over his shoulder every half hour and she decides to do something really stupid.

After making sure there wasn’t a way for the link to transmit her location to another device, she opens the nav-point. The curiosity, along with the agitation, had been gnawing away at her nerves and she feels somehow disappointed when she realizes it’s pointing her back to Nevarro. She blinks down at the link, eyes skimming over the coordinates like she’s trying to decipher some kind of hidden code or message.

This couldn’t be right…

Cara tries rearranging the lines of information in front of her, looking for anything that might clue her into something…  _ more _ . But nothing jumps out at her and the shock trooper is left more frustrated than when she had begun.

She hates herself for what she does next. Greef Karga is not her favorite person to deal with on a good day, which was one of the reasons she had stayed with the Mandos for so long. Bringing up his com leaves a foul taste in her mouth, but if anyone would know what’s been happening on that volcanic rock, it was the guild leader.

*~~*~~*~~*

She finds the others seated around a table in one of the communal areas of the covert. They aren’t talking, merely watching the kid play with Corin’s fingers from where the small green child is balanced on the ex-trooper’s lap. There’s a heavy sense of dread hanging over the group and she pushes down the hesitation she feels churning in the pit of her stomach.

“I spoke to Greef.”

Din’s helmet snaps up in her direction. She forces herself not to shift uncomfortably under the attention she receives from the rest of the party at those words. Cara Dune was a lot of things, but a coward wasn’t one of them.

“There’s been no signs of anyone new on Nevarro-,” Cara pauses when Mando tips his head to the side in question and she holds up the link as a way of explanation. “This- it points back to Nevarro- but the coordinates aren’t centered on the town. It's showing an area about eight kilometers from the guild cantina. Greef hasn’t seen anyone in the area that looks like they- don’t belong. There’s been no sightings of any Mandos in the area either.”

Din considers that for a moment, but it’s Jon that, unsurprisingly, breaks the silence.

“Wha' 'bout the area the nav-point is pingin'? Wha’s out there?”

“Nothing," the mechanic makes a face at her reply. “At least, that’s what Greef said. That area is supposed to be nothing but old inactive, lava flats.”

Corin shifts his eyes to Din, who turns his own helm to watch the kid snuggling into the ex-imperial’s arms. After a few minutes, the Mandalorian turns his visor on Cara.

“I want to speak to Greef myself.”

*~~*~~*~~*

They make a plan after Din spends the next two hours grilling the guild leader over com link.

Well, it’s not so much a plan as the Mandalorian finally having enough of the endless string of unanswered questions and deciding to follow the navigation coordinates to meet this strange new… ally?

Cara decides it's a dumb plan, but no one has the heart to tell the bounty hunter.

From the way he’s pacing in the hold of the twin’s ship, she’s pretty sure Din knows how foolish it is.

None of the Mandalorians would allow the small clan to do this on their own and, since she had started all of this, Cara feels she is in some way responsible for what’s about to happen. Paz had attempted to get Jon to stay behind at the covert. To his credit, the mechanic had listened quietly to the larger man’s case then promptly told the big idiot he could take that same reasoning and shove it somewhere very unpleasant. So, here they all are, cramped into the too small vessel on the way to meet this Sovyn guy on the hot, miserable little planet of Nevarro.

She’s actually shocked to find Greef waiting for them when they land. Cara had assumed that the man would make himself scarce and leave this whole convene to them. Maybe it was the mystery that still surrounded this whole weird series of events that peeked the man’s interest. Regardless of what brought him out to the deserted part of the planet, he’s there standing next to a speeder bike at the bottom of a steep hill watching their ship set down, and Cara doesn’t know how to feel about that.

The shock trooper is one of the first off the ship and is making a beeline to the guild leader before the engines even have a chance to cool. She means to threaten or demand an explanation, but then, she gets a good look at his face.

Greef is pale. His eyes are wide and unfocused before suddenly snapping to Cara as she slows her approach. She senses Din step up behind her and the guild leader’s attention immediately turns to the Mandalorian.

“Mando-,” Greef’s voice wavers at the greeting and he swallows before trying to speak again. “You need to see this.”

When they crest the hill, Cara stops and stares. She blinks, brings a hand up to rub at her eyes before allowing the appendage to drop limply at her side. Her brain is having a hard time processing what she’s seeing, and after a beat of hesitation, she calls out to the guild leader.

“Greef?”

“-Yes?”

“Nevarro doesn’t have any forests, does it?”

“No. No, it does not.”

Except it does. Or, at least, it does now.

Stretching out before them is a thick line of trees. The plant life is so closely packed together Cara isn’t able to see more than a few feet into the growth. The sun is high in the sky over their heads but the forest, somehow, appears dark. Like it's stuck in an eternal dusk.

The group stands there looking over the wooden expanse for a long, tense moment. Din is the first to recover and rounds on Corin, stepping into the man’s space. She watches as her friend reaches out to grab the ex-trooper by the back of his neck and pull him in so the beskar helm meets bare forehead.

“Stay close,” Din whispers and Cara looks away, suddenly feeling like she’s intruding upon a private moment.

A quick check of their weapons later and they are making slow, careful progress towards the woodland. They are roughly six meters away from the first few trees when a shadow shifts in the darkness of the vegetation. The group as a whole bring up their blasters, Paz hefting his massive cannon to sight the target, when a figure in red and black armor steps into view.

It’s definitely a Mandalorian, just slightly shorter than the heavy gunner with them, with what looks like… a sword strapped to their back?

Cara raises a brow and glances at Din out of the corner of her eyes. He shrugs a shoulder at her disbelieving expression before turning back to the newcomer.

“ _ Tion’ad cuyir gar _ ,” Din calls out, blaster never wavering.

“Sovyn Kyrrol,” the same voice from the com link proclaims, the man raising his hands to show he means no harm. “Well met,  _ beyora _ . I honestly didn’t expect you to come. Guess I lost that bet.”

“Bet,” Corin asks from the middle of the group. He’s got his own blaster trained on the man, a small green head peering over his shoulder from where the kid is settled in the sling on his back.

“I should really stop trying to wager against  _ ner riduur _ ,” Sovyn responds fondly. He wisely keeps his hands visible to the group, but other than that seems completely at ease with having several weapons leveled at his vital spots. “They are always right, after all.”

Din hesitates, glances to Raga who seems just as confused by this odd man as Cara herself. After a moment, the Mandalorian lowers his blaster. The others follow suit, but no one dares to holster their weapons.

Sovyn simply waits, calm and patient as he watches them from the boundary of the forest.

“Why did you call us here,” Corin calls out abruptly, Cara catches herself from jumping as the noise echoes around them.

The newcomer cocks his helm as he looks over the trooper.

“I didn’t. They did,” he clarifies and when Corin makes a frustrated sound, he holds up his hands a little higher in a placating gesture. “They were curious. They wanted to meet the kid, so they found a way to slip that com link to the pilot. I was asked to listen out for your call, and I can’t really say no to my  _ cyare _ \- well, I  _ can _ but I also have to live with them so-.”

He trails off there, then tilts his head away from them, like he’s listening to something.

“Your-  _ cyare _ ,” Din questions, shifting a bit so Corin is blocked by the bunk of his armor. Cara almost rolls her eyes at the overprotective action. “Who are they?”

“ _ What _ are they,” Cara tacks on, remembering how Reck hadn’t given the being a clear description.

“I think-,” Sovyn pauses, he turns his helm to look over his shoulder, peering into the dense woodland behind him. “Yeah, maybe I should start at the beginning?”

When Din nods after a moment’s hesitation, the other Mandalorian lowers his arms to cross them over the beskar chest plate. The movement calls her attention to a portion of the armor peeking just over one of the man’s arms, a distortion in the metal that speaks of a bad hit. Even with the added protection of the Mandalorians garb, something like that would have left a lasting, if not fatal, injury. When Cara glances back to the others in the group she notes the tense shoulders of the warriors, they had noticed the same thing.

“I was young, foolish, like most newly helmeted. I’d just managed to take the Creed and get off world for my first mission when my small covert was attacked-”

“Imps,” Paz growls. Sovyn merely nods in confirmation.

“My covert had no love for Imps, and they didn’t try to hide it. We’d managed to keep the Empire from establishing a stronghold on the planet- They didn’t take kindly to that. I got the missive after landing. That’s probably what saved my hide. Had I known beforehand I would have turned my ship around and died with my  _ vod’e _ -”

He turns away from them, glancing up at the sun, and lets out a sigh.

“On my own, without a clan to return to, I had to find a way to survive. I took on mercenary work mostly to get by. It was a struggle, but I made the best of it. Then, I get a bounty dropped into my lap. The payoff seems too good to be true and, of course, there’s barely any information to go along with it. The only thing I know is it’s paying extremely well, and the client seems to have connections to the Empire.”

“You’d work for the same people that killed your clan,” Raga asks, she doesn’t try to suppress her disgust.

Somehow, Sovyn is able to pull off a flat look through the visor of his helm.

“I really wasn’t thinking about the credits. I was more interested in getting to the client. I figured if I was able to meet them, I could use that connection to get to the Empire and get some much-needed revenge.”

He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. The movement has the group stiffening again, but either Sovyn doesn’t take notice or, more likely, doesn’t care.

“Problem was, other bounty hunters had taken the job. A lot of them, actually, and I was too blinded by rage to even care,” the man laughs, shaking his head at the memory. “No one wanted to share the earnings. When I got close to the location the fob was leading to it was an all-out war. By the time the dust settled it was just me and one other hunter left, but I wasn’t looking good.”

Sovyn unfolds his arms, holding one out of the way while he brings his other hand up to finger the old damage on his armor. “I was losing a lot of blood and I could see straight into my own chest cavity, which was- not pretty.”

“How did you survive,” Corin wonders, the man glances over at him and chuckles.

“To be honest, I didn’t think I  _ was _ going to survive. I just wanted to take that prick down with me. Even if I had, somehow, gotten back to my ship there wasn’t enough bacta in the galaxy that could fix that wound,” Sovyn shrugs and pauses here, his body tenses and when he starts to talk again his voice has a hesitant lilt to it. “I don’t even remember what the guy looked like. I just remember laying there bleeding out while this hunter towers over me. I remember him raising his blaster, saying something, probably gloating-”

Paz snorts and Sovyn tosses a good-natured laugh in his direction.

“- Then something moved behind him- The first time I ever saw the being I would, eventually, fall in love with was the moment they decided to save my life by biting off the head of that kriffing bounty hunter.”

Sovyn falls silent afterwards, leaning back against the tree behind him and waits.

There are varying levels of disbelief spreading through their group. Din shifts closer to Corin, who looks like his head is going to explode. Yeah, Cara can’t really blame him for that...

“I’m confused-,” the ex-trooper admits slowly.

“About which part,” Sovyn asks, tipping his helm to look towards Corin.

“Pretty sure he’s referrin’’ to the whole head bitin’ thing,” Jon pipes up between the twins, cocking his own head at Sovyn curiously.

“Ah, yeah. When I say that I mean it in the most literal way possible,” the Mandalorian states and if it wasn’t for the firm, serious note in his tone Cara would have thought the guy was joking.

“What the-,” Greef mumbles behind her, trailing off into a quiet stream of cursing.

“This would make more sense if you just met them or- maybe it would just cause more questions. I’ve had a long time to get used to all of this-” Sovyn continues, waving his hands around to indicate the forest. “So, my opinion might be a bit skewed. My beloved means no harm though, none of us do. They want to help you learn about your _ ad’ika’s _ abilities.”

Din turns to Corin, who meets the warrior’s visor with unwavering resolve, then slowly gives the Mandalorian a nod.

Her friend wheels back around and takes a few steps forward. “Alright.”

*~~*~~*~~*

She’s fairly certain that forests aren’t supposed to be this… quiet. The only sounds are the heavy boot falls of their party, there aren’t any other signs of life as far as Cara is able to see, and the colors of the various species of plant life seem muted, almost monochromatic. Which is concerning. She isn’t the only one worried if the way the others are eyeing the trees and tossing glances over their shoulders are anything to go by. Even Jon is, unnaturally, silent as they make their way through the opaque gloom hemming them in on all sides.

Din had reluctantly agreed to follow Sovyn into the wooded area in order to meet his partner. The group had immediately descended upon the bounty hunter with varying levels of anger and indignation. Corin had outright refused to be left behind, and the others had all fallen in line behind him. Faced with this united front, Din was left with only two options; agree to allow the entire rag-tag squadron to join him or have them follow along anyway.

He didn’t seem happy about the whole thing, but had quieted down his protests once the ex-trooper leveled him with a look that could probably curdle milk.

The red and black armored Mandalorian was now leading them through the eerie, dark forest.

"I'm pretty sure every horror vid I've ever seen has started out like this," she hears Jon mumble quietly next to Paz, who shifts closer to the mechanic.

She nearly jumps out of her skin when Greef sucks in a gasp of air and snaps up his blaster in a white knuckled grip. The group whips around to take aim in the same direction the guild leader is staring into, but, besides from the dark vegetation, there doesn’t appear to be anything there. Cara spares a look at Greef, raising a brow in question.

“I- there was something there,” the man snarls through clenched teeth, eyes wildly searching their surroundings. “I swear! I saw-”

“I believe you,” Sovyn hums, his voice sounding almost pitying. He’d stopped a respectable distance from the group when they’d halted, his helm tilted to stare off into the area where Karga had his blaster trained a few seconds prior. “I’d tell you not to worry but- it was difficult for me to get acclimated to the hounds too.”

“Hounds,” Paz asks, scanning the trees in their immediate vicinity.

Their new ‘ally’ glances over at the heavy gunner and cocks his head to the side like he’s trying to decide whether or not to answer that question, before finally speaking up again.

“Don’t try to look directly at them. Use your peripherals instead.”

Cara spares a look towards Corin, who has reached a hand up to run a reassuring finger along one of the kid’s large ears. She’s turning her head back to check up on Raga and the twins when she sees it. It’s quick, a small wavering shift of light but it’s there. It almost reminds her of how desert heat would distort the air itself and make it appear images were shifting in the distance. From the sound that Din makes where he’s standing next to the ex-trooper, she’s sure he’s seen it too.

“I started calling them ‘the hounds’ years ago and the term just kinda stuck,” the Mandalorian explains, he shifts his weight from one foot to the other as he waits for the group to start moving again.

“Will- Are they dangerous,” Corin inquires, eyes drifting slowly around them but not focusing on any one spot for very long. Cara realizes why when she turns her head back to Sovyn a moment later. There wasn’t just one of those odd shifting forms in the shadows. They were surrounded by them on all sides.

“Very much so,” their new ‘friend’ replies. "So, make sure you don't go wandering off alone, yeah?"

Cara zeroes in on one of the shrubs near the group. After a short wait she sees a few of the 'hounds' move out of the corner of her eyes. Keeping her sight fixated on one spot like this actually makes it easier to observe the odd pack of creatures moving along the fringe of the small clearing. They appear to range in size but the largest are about the size of an adult human and they all seem to be moving around on at least four limbs.

"So, we're safe if we stay in a group," Jon asks and the shock trooper snaps her attention to the mechanic. He's staring off into the trees with a calm, almost curious little head tilt and now Cara understands why Paz is always muttering about the man's apparent lack of basic survival instincts.

"You're safe as long as you lot stay with  _ me _ ," Sovyn clarifies. " They're probably just curious. We don't normally have- guests."

*~~*~~*~~*

It takes a while before the group feels safe enough to keep moving. The creatures continue to follow their progress through the underbrush, but never come any closer to the ‘guests’ visiting their forest. Cara watches a few of the larger ‘hounds’ skim past Sovyn, the distorted air trailing around him so closely she’s sure a few of them have brushed up against the man.

They’ve been walking for what feels like the better part of an hour, and the shock trooper is just about to call out to their ‘guide’ when the trees finally give way to a large clearing. The ex-rebel blinks in shock when she realizes there are three other Mandalorians waiting in the glade, all of whom turn when their group breaks through the tree line. Her friends tense, ready for a fight. Din snarls, and Cara is certain he’s about to pull his blaster and demand an answer, when there’s a squeal of delight that rings through the air. A blond haired toddler darts out from behind one of the other helmeted strangers and races towards Sovyn.

“Buir, buir, buir,” the tot flings himself at the man’s side and starts trying to climb his pant leg. “Up, up, up!”

Their new ‘friend’ chuckles at the boy and scoops the kid up into his arms. Once settled, the toddler reaches up to grab a hold of either side of the Mandalorian’s helmet and buts his forehead against the beskar armor.

“Easy there, adiik,” Sovyn chides firmly, but his tone is fond.

Din relaxes marginally and spares Corin a quick glance. “This is your aliik?”

“Some, yes,” the man says, turning back towards the bounty hunter he motions to the toddler squirming in his arms. “This is our youngest, Bryn.”

Bryn blinks at the group then something else must catch his attention, because he whines to get down. Once placed back on his own two feet the child launches himself at the same shimmer of distorted air that signifies that a hound is present. Everyone in the group tenses, but nothing happens. Well nothing  _ bad _ happens. What  _ does _ happen is the toddler dangles happily in the air from where he’s laying over top of one of the semi-invisible creatures.

“Well, tha’s- new,” Jon mutters, eyes slightly glazed over and, honestly, Cara can’t blame the man. This day just keeps getting weirder.

“Alright, let’s get the introductions started, shall we,” Sovyn hums, then turns towards one of the other Mandalorians in the clearing and waves them over. “Tomik?”

Tomik is a male human, this little detail is made painfully obvious when he steps out from under the shadow of the tree he had been leaning on. While he still has beskar bracers and leg guards, painted a slightly darker shade of red than Sovyn, the man isn’t wearing any kind of protective gear across the rest of his torso… or a shirt for that matter.

“Sidmos, come over here.”

Sidmos steps up next to the bare-chested Mandalorian sporting more protection in the form of a full suit of beskar armor, this time in light blue. The odd thing is his armor looks like it has a light sheen of frost over it, even though the weather inside of the forest is temperate.

“Mordecai,” their host calls and the last of the men stands from where he’d been lodging on a fallen log. He’s wearing dark grey beskar pauldrons and leg guards but the rest of his gear appears to be designed to be lighter. When he moves closer to them, Cara spots a modified E-11 long-range blaster strapped to his back.

“Took you long enough, old man,” Tomik moves up to Sovyn’s side, lightly bumping the other Mandalorian with his shoulder. “Mordi was getting antsy.”

Sovyn huffs in amusement, cocking his mead towards the sniper. “You sent the hounds to check up on me?”

Mordecai doesn’t dignify that question with a verbal response, merely holds up a middle finger in the general direction of the older man.

The same loud, sharp hiss they’d heard over com erupts from the tree line on the opposite side of the glen. Cara flinches at the sound, but it isn’t loud enough to drown out the gasp Corin emits a second later.

“Din-,” the ex-trooper mumbles, eyes fixed past the family of strange Mandalorians.

Cara follows his line of sight and… really wished she hadn’t.

Standing at the edge of the clearing is a creature.

A creature with a canine skull for a head. Dark, twisted antlers spout from the skull and, although there are no eyes in it’s sockets, the shock trooper gets the distinct feeling she is being watched very closely. The rest of the… thing’s body appears to belong to a cervidae-like animal, almost like a deer in its appearance with dark fur covering a too thin body.

Cara thinks… hopes the thing is dead. Just the body of an animal these men had slain for a meal, but then it moves.

It steps into the glade on silent cloven hooves, shifting that skinless head to regard the group as it slowly approaches Sovyn.

Once close enough to the man, it lowers its head and the Mandaloiran leans in to press his helm to the skull in a kov’nyn greeting.

" _ Beyora _ ,” Sovyn calls out, and the shock trooper watches Din tense out of the corner of her eye. The man pulls back from the beast a moment later and turns to the group, reaching up to place a hand against one of the creature's shoulder blades. “I’d like to introduce you to  _ ner riduur _ , Sovereign.”


	2. From Beyond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group comes to realize they might be in over their heads when their questions lead to more questions in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my beta reader, Wizardmoonwhisper, for putting up with my writers block.
> 
> Seriously, this chapter went through several rewrites and edits before I was happy with it.  
> So sorry for the delay!!!

"I felt myself on the edge of the world; peering over the rim into a fathomless chaos of eternal night."

-H. P. Lovecraft

*~~*~~*~~*

_"I'd like to introduce you to ner riduur, Sovereign."_

A silence fell over the group as those words hung in the air.

Din blinks behind his helmet, eyes roaming over the grotesque creature calmly standing next to Sovyn. It was large, towering at least a head taller than Paz, and its black antlers branched out into a twisted crown above it. Upon closer inspection, the dark fur covering most of its body appeared to be moving, shifting lazily, growing and shrinking in a continuous cycle. As if sensing his gaze, the beast turns its skeletal head towards the Mandalorian. The bounty hunter watches as skinless jaws open, a sound emitting from its throat like a series of high-pitched clicks.

" _Ner riduur_ ," Corin asks slowly, his voice quivers with uncertainty.

"My spouse," Jon translates before the bounty hunter can answer, though his own tone is tinged with skepticism.

“I’m-,” Corin starts, eyes widening as Sovereign’s head turns to him. “I’m very confused.”

The creature shifts its skull back to Sovyn, letting out a sharp hiss and tilting its head to the side in an almost curious expression.

“I did tell them,” the Mandalorian states defensively, crossing his arms over his chest plate and rocking back on his heels.

“Did you actually tell them the whole truth, or did you tell them the bare minimum,” the Mandalorian in light blue, Sidmos, finally speaks up. The man's voice is a slow drawl, almost bored.

Sovyn pauses at the question.

“Bare minimum,” Jon pipes up next to Paz. The heavy gunner immediately moves one of his large hands to press it over the smaller man's mouth in a vain attempt to silence him.

The mechanic, at least, looked like he was taking all of this fairly well. Din is actually a little jealous over the fact that the man could so easily accept a new reality.

Sovereign wheels around to snap at its spouse, making an unhappy sound. Sovyn doesn't so much as flinch, somehow giving the creature a dry look from behind his visor.

"You want me to just tell them that the immortal creature I married who lives in a dark, eerie forest that bends time and space wants to meet them and their kid because the little green guy can make things move with his mind?"

Sovereign makes a curious noise at that, clearly saying something that has Sovyn shaking his helm. "You know I love you, but that's not how that works."

Mordecai snorts from behind the two. "I think you two broke them, _buir_."

The sniper motions towards the group and the older man spares them a glance.

"Already? But we just got here."

"What is happening right now," the ex-trooper mumbles, eyes flickering over briefly to Din before looking back to the odd clan of Mandalorians.

Before Sovyn can reply the bounty hunter takes a half step forward. The beast's head swings around to give the man its full attention.

"This-," Din pauses as he gazes into the black sockets of that skull, thoughts momentarily derailed. "-Is your _riduur_?"

"I think we've established that, yes," the man states with a shrug. The creature huffs, sounding exasperated by the whole conversation.

"Wha- what are they?"

The clan falls strangely quiet at his question. The younger members turn to look at their father, waiting for him to answer. Sovyn shifts his weight from one foot to the other, glancing at his _cyare_ , before addressing Din.

"That- is a bit difficult to explain."

"Why," Corin slowly inquires, a curious set of dark eyes and long green ears peeking over his shoulder.

"Because- I don't actually know?"

" _Buir_ ," Mordecai groans, the man brings a hand up to smack it lightly against the front of his helm.

Sovyn huffs. "Sovereign is- well, they're completely different from any species I've seen before and it's very possible they are the only one of their kind. I've been traveling with them since the day they decided to save my hide from that other hunter, and I have seen some- interesting things in that time."

"Are they even alive," Cara questions, her eyes hadn't moved from the beast since it had stepped into the clearing.

Sovyn hums, no doubt eyeing the shock trooper from behind his visor before bringing up a hand to make a so-so gesture.

Cara frowns, a concerned noise emitting from the back of her throat.

"Can they speak," Din asks, the creature makes a peculiar sound and tilts its massive head at the Mandalorian.

"They are speaking," Tomik replies slowly, like he was the oddity here.

"Give it some time," Sovyn says, chuckling under his breath. "You'll start to understand it soon enough. Just- don't panic if you start hearing voices."

"What the kriff did you mean 'hearing voices'? Can that _thing_ read our minds or something," Greef demands, edging back towards the line of trees behind them.

"I never said that, and do not call my _riduur_ a 'thing'," Sovyn snarls, calming somewhat when the beast steps closer to press its snout into the man's neck. "Sovereign communicates differently than we do. It normally takes a while for a person's brain to get used to and process it. You guys have it easy, honestly. It took nearly two years for me to even begin to piece together what they were trying to tell me. Since then, they've managed to streamline the method."

"What do they want," Corin asks, stepping up to stand beside Din, the child squirming excitedly in the sling across the ex-trooper's back.

_T o h e l p…_

Din flinches back violently, the words seem to be coming from inside his own head. A quiet, near whisper of cascading voices that has his haunches raising instantly. He can feel a mild pressure in the back of his skull, like someone had their hand pressing lightly against his scalp. Corin makes a distressed noise next to him, and the others in the group shift uncomfortably around him. At least, he doesn't have to wonder if he was the only one that heard that.

_D o n o t f e a r…_

The words are halting, countless voices fading in and out in his mind. The creature takes a step closer to Din and his small clan, skull lowered so the empty sockets can stare into his eyes through the helmet's visor.

"By the stars," he can hear Raga whisper from somewhere behind him.

"Wha- what are you," Corin asks again, his voice cracking at the beginning before he can gather the wits to continue.

_O l d… f r o m b e f o r e…_

"'Fore," Jon repeats back in that odd accent of his, having moved away from Paz' attempts to quiet the mechanic. "'Fore what?"

The beast cocks its head at the smaller man before tilting its neck back, skull pointing towards the heavens. Din follows its gaze and feels his heart plummet into his stomach. The sky overhead, past the dark branches of the forest, is completely pitch black. The bounty hunter racks his brain, trying to remember a time in recent memory where the sky had ever been that dark. Even on the more populated planets, the light pollution hadn't been able to totally drown out every single star. This, what he was looking at right now, was just… nothing.

_B e f o r e e v e r y t h i n g…_

Din swallows, feeling sick. He pulls his eyes away from the endless black void above them and startles when he realizes the creature is now towering over him. His child makes a happy chirp at the close proximity of the being, reaching a tiny clawed hand out to it. Sovereign leans over the two men, neck stretching out to bring its face closer to the kid. The Mandalorian's eyes skim past the canine-like cranium, stomach flipping when he spots the bare vertebrae through the dark tangle of fur.

The child squeaks happily when Sovereign moves within reach, pressing its hand to the boney snout and closing its eyes, brow furrowing in concentration. Nothing happens, though, and the little one makes a concerned noise when it blinks up at the creature a moment later.

_N o t h i n g t o f i x, s m a l l o n e…_

_W e a r e w h o l e…_

Din can see the horrified expression Corin shoots him at those words. Not for the first time, he wishes he could send the man a reassuring look, but he isn’t sure if he could even manage to conjure one up at this point, with or without the helmet.

_H e n e e d s t o l e a r n…_

He looks up as those words ring inside his skull. The creature has pulled back now, skinless head glancing between Din and Corin.

“And you could teach him-,” he guesses, looking over his shoulder at the others before turning back to consider the monster. “-How to use his power?”

_W e c o u l d t r y…_

Sovyn hums. “Can’t hurt to give it a go. Understand, they aren’t promising anything, _beyora._ Their abilities are different then the kid’s, but he’s still going to have to learn control. My _riduur_ is offering, and they have- experience.”

“What if we don’t accept?”

Din snaps his helm towards Corin when the man throws the question out through gritted teeth. The ex-trooper is staring defiantly at Sovereign, back ramrod straight and hand twitching towards the blaster holstered on his belt.

The beast merely stares right back, the bounty hunter suddenly having the impression that if the being had eyelids it would be blinking owlishly at the man. After a moment’s pause, that bleached skull turns away from the group towards the tree line nearby. The vegetation shifts as shrubs, roots, and trees creak, forced back as a clear path forms in the wake.

“This isn’t a threat. We mean no harm and there isn’t an expiration date on this offer,” Sovyn calmly states, he sounds almost offended by the thought. “Sovereign merely wanted to give you the option. I was the one being overly cautious by demanding this meeting happen on our terms.”

“So we could just leave,” Corin asks, a little stunned. He eyes the open path, then turns to look at Din.

Sovyn nods. Sovereign moves back to return to the man’s side, clicking happily as it bumps the man's helm with its snout. A sound akin to a purr fills the clearing as the being shifts to rub the bottom of its jaw over the top of the Beskar helmet.

“When you say that they have experience,” Din starts, carefully choosing his next words carefully. “What exactly do you mean?”

The older Mandalorian tips his head to the side, dislodging the skull from its perch atop his helm, and Din realizes with a jolt that he was probably having an unspoken conversation with the creature. The idea is unsettling at first, until he remembers that the child had recently developed the ability to share its thoughts… no, that wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t thoughts per say, more like emotions or feelings, and the little one had to be in contact with the person for it to work.

The red and black clad Mandalorian sighs in resignation, shaking his head at the beast.

"Look around you. Does this forest seem strange to you, _beyora_ ," the man asks, motioning around them with a sweep of both arms.

Din cocks his helm, not quite understanding this line of questioning.

"No birds. No game animals. The only 'living' creatures are the hounds that are still stalking the shadows even now," Sovyn states, his arms drop back to his side. "There isn't any wind, is there? Not even a light breeze."

The bounty hunter feels himself stiffen at those words, suddenly uncomfortable.

"This is no forest, not a natural one at least. It is Sovereign. An extension of them. It is both our home and _ner kar'ta._ This place is a no man's land between worlds. On one side is our own and on the other-," the Mandalorian trails off with a shrug.

"So it isn't that its able to move a whole kriffing forest," Cara slowly says, brows pulled down in concentration. "It's part of- them. Like an arm?"

Tomik hums off to the side, nodding at the shock trooper.

It strikes Din all at once. To create this place would take a great deal of control and concentration. Even if it was second nature to the beast now, what would it have taken to get to the end result?

Practice, discipline… All things that a proper Mandalorian would need to learn, however, these were things that the bounty hunter could only teach to his son in theory in regard to the child's powers.

As much as it pained him to admit, they had a point.

"Where would this training take place," he questions, glancing at Sovyn.

The older Mandalorian shrugs. "This meeting was on my terms, but the training would be on yours. He is your son, after all."

"I would like to discuss this matter with our _Alor,_ " he hums, feeling suddenly more confident.

"As is expected of you. When a decision has been made, use the same commlink to contact us. This is the way."

A chorus of voices repeat back the phrase.

*~~*~~*~~*

The walk back to their ship is blessedly shorter than the previous stroll to the clearing.

So short, in fact, that as soon as their group takes a few steps back into the forest, they suddenly find themselves next to the twin's vessel. Din blinks in surprise, turning back where they'd come from, only to discover that the woodland is gone.

Spread out before him instead is the vacant, inactive lava flats. There isn't a trace of the once massive forest that had been there only a moment ago.

"Maker," Paz whispers breathlessly next to him. "The _Alor_ is never going to believe this."

Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if their matriarch didn't.

He was having a hard time believing it himself.

The group bid a shaken Greef goodbye, watching him climb onto his speederbike before piling back onto the ship. A course is laid out for the covert, one that would take them through several different systems to keep any hunters off their trail.

Something tells Din, however, that such a tactic would do nothing to throw off the beast he'd seen within that monochromatic grove. The thought makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up and throw wary glances over his shoulder.

"I would like to take this opportunity to apologize, Din," he hears Cara pipe up nearby. The others had been eerily silent this entire time, lost in their own thoughts. "If I had any idea-"

"No. It was my decision to come here, Cara. Besides, this was- educational."

The shock trooper doesn't look certain, brows furrowing at his words.

"What are we going to do," Corin quietly asks. The child is wrapped up in a blanket, sleeping peacefully in the man's arms.

The stormtrooper had refused to let the baby out of his sight since boarding the gunship.

"What do you think we should do," Din questions right back, voice gentle. "Remember, you have just as much say in this as I do, Corin."

The man looks like he's going to argue for all of two seconds before thinking better of it. Instead, he glances away as he chews on his bottom lip.

He's quiet for a while and the Mandalorian leaves him be, his own mind still trying to process everything they'd encountered.

"We can't teach him how to use his abilities," Corin slowly says, eyes still distant.

Din hums. "No, we can't."

"He needs to learn. He could hurt himself-," the ex-trooper trails off, looking tense.

The Mandalorian decides not to point out that the child could also hurt others as his powers continue to grow. Corin was already stressed, he didn't need to hear that.

The man turns to him, their eyes locking through his visor and gives a steady nod.

"We could bring them to the covert," Raga slowly drawls, hand resting on the chin of her helm as she thinks. "Keep the training under the watchful eyes of the rest of the tribe."

The bounty hunter cants his helm to the side as he considers this.

"Would the _Alor_ allow that," he directs his question towards both Raga and Paz.

The heavy gunner sighs from where he's leaning against the wall. He'd been watching his mechanic tinker with a random bit of metal and wires.

"Hard to say, but they were, technically, a clan of Mandalorians so-," Paz tilts his helm back to 'thump' lightly against the durasteel wall and gives a shrug. "-that may make a difference. She might be more willing to allow them temporary housing while that- thing teaches _ad'ika_."

"On'y one way ta fin' out," Jon chuckles from his place on the floor.

Din hums in agreement with the mechanic.

It seemed they had a plan then.

The bounty hunter only hopes that he was making the right decision.

Something tickles the back of his scalp and he shifts to look behind him. His eyes linger over the barely opened doorway of the refresher.

He could have sworn he'd seen eyes looking back at him for a moment, but he chalked it up to his nerves running on overdrive.

Turning back, Din freezes. This time, he didn't miss the way the shadows on the opposite side of the cargo hold shifted, unnoticed by the rest of the group.

Kriff, what was he getting them all into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ner riduur- My spouse  
> Buir- parent  
> Beyora- bounty hunter  
> Alor- leader  
> Ad'ika- small child

**Author's Note:**

> Jetii- Jedi  
> Gar cuyir Mando?- You are Mandalorian?  
> Bal’ban- Indeed  
> Ner riduur- my spouse  
> Ad’ika- small child  
> Beyora- bounty hunter  
> Tion’ad cuyir gar?- Who are you?  
> Cyare- beloved  
> Vod’e- brothers/sisters


End file.
